If war never changes, then snipers are the champions of permanence. At least the one shown in Sniper Elite. Karl Fairburne will very soon become a hero of the battles of World War II for the fourth time, so StopGame in my person looked at the preview version of his new adventures. Now the action takes place in 1943 in Italy, where an elite sniper was transferred from Africa. The change of scene did not affect the essence: we still carefully shoot back the most valuable things for the Nazis.
Cutthroat Island
During the presentation, we managed to play the first mission, whose action took place on a small and quite picturesque Italian island. A couple of villages with stone and wooden houses, several ruins and German garrisons with tents and equipment, and numerous bushes in which the hero becomes invisible to the Nazis. However, one can come to terms with this convention, especially since the thickets help get rid of pursuers and take aim without fear of being discovered.
Both will be needed often. Karl can hardly cope with even two opponents in open battle, and they easily gather in groups of five to seven people at the alarm signal. The main objective of the mission is to kill four officers and one general; each of them is guarded by ordinary infantrymen, so it is impossible to pass through or without resistance. Fortunately, this time the authors from Rebellion there is no need to look back at the 256 megabytes of RAM on the PlayStation 3, so the maps will be much larger and more varied.
The island was remembered for its constant elevation changes and alternative approaches to each goal. One of the officers can be reached in at least three ways: across a bridge, along a winding path past a checkpoint, or through sewer pipes. Karl, like heroes Assassin’s Creed, learned to quickly climb ledges and jump from ledge to ledge.
One shot is enough
There are not so many interactive objects, but those that exist are placed for a reason. Tractors, trucks and gasoline cans explode, attracting the enemy’s attention, generators muffle your shots, allowing you to shoot enemies in batches, tasks are associated with German field cameras. Moreover, these additional goals appear directly during the mission. For example, after the murder of one of the officers, I was offered to clear a small area of all Krauts.
Once we even managed to catch an officer passing by barrels of fuel, and one shot from a hill saved him from a huge detour to an enemy fortified area. Very often, the optimal approach to the theater of operations is from above. The towers scattered around the map work for the same tactics.
There are no special details about the plot, but its presentation is again too serious. Although who plays Sniper Elite for the sake of history??
The shooting system remains generally the same: in sniper mode the scope shakes and you need to hold your breath. It is possible to mark objects and opponents of interest so that, having moved to a more advantageous position, you do not lose sight of them.
Melee weapons play a secondary role. There are also tripwire traps, which are very nice to place on the approach to a busy tower. The difficulty has been slightly edited: the maximum level now does not stand out as hardcore compared to the penultimate level. Beginners will definitely need time to get used to it, although not that much. In just a couple of hours you will be able to easily take “headshots”, during which the camera shows how a bullet pierces the skulls of fascists.
Country of the Deaf
Another important question: do these turtles have artificial intelligence?? On the one hand, the enemy should not be too smart to pass secretly, on the other hand, Sniper Elite III it was impossible not to notice the blatant stupidity and not want to correct it. It seems that this time the balance has been struck. After an inaccurate hit, opponents no longer begin to circle in place; and if you stand on a cliff without shelter, you will be quickly seen; when an alarm is declared, enemies come running from different directions, although in normal situations they don’t always think of going to the rear.
According to the video and demo from gamescom, it seemed that the opponents were deaf, and this is confirmed. As a result, the stealth turns out to be strange – they don’t notice you in the bushes, even when you are actively rustling, the sounds when jumping from a height are also not critical. At the same time, everyone is shouting very actively, but, apparently, into the void.
The game is being prepared for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the versions will be almost identical. Platform permission only Sony higher, and the frame rate is more stable. However, I played on the console Microsoft and I almost didn’t notice any real problems, despite the fact that they didn’t even show the alpha version. Except that one of the tasks could not be completed due to a missing character, and the water also looks a little strange. Otherwise by modern standards Sniper Elite 4 looks moderately good.
PR people for a publisher https://4starscasino.co.uk/ in Russia, "Buki", they said that the main plot is already ready and the developers just have to remove the rough edges. Judging by the pre-alpha version, there are not many of the latter, and this is a good sign. We are waiting for the cutest, largest and quite friendly to newcomers part of the series. Another thing is that these characteristics do not promise a technical breakthrough, an open world and mass appeal – it’s just that the new generation of consoles dictates its own rules and provides new opportunities. It’s unlikely Sniper Elite 4 will be a hit for everyone, but fans of tactical action films should keep an eye on it.
Sniper Elite 4
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It’s been the same thing for years, I watched a part of the OBT stream of the fourth part and thought that I was continuing to play some mission from the third part, the equipment was the same, the sounds were the same, the “headshots” were the same, even the faces of the enemies seemed familiar to me, like old friends… what the hell… Rebellion fuck.
This article appeared some time ago, it was flooded, the article was deleted. And now, she’s here again)) I thought all the comments would be saved, but no (
Why did they delete it?? I looked through it and it seems like nothing much has changed..
But I won’t flood a second time, I’m lazy 😀 Except this was confusing.
Why? I think it’s the other way around. On minimum-medium difficulty let the AI be stupid, but on high difficulty let it be adequate 🙂
Not that I somehow justify Rebellion, there really aren’t many innovations in the series, but in each subsequent part they still appear minimally. This one will definitely have “jumping” elements, and m.b. and some other little things. Here you also need to take into account the restrictions established by the siting, they will go deeper into setting up all sorts of accidents, they will call it “Hitman 1943”, they will go into stealth, they will get the long-awaited MGS prequel with the Boss in the title role. I won’t say that it would be bad, but it wouldn’t be “Sniper Elite” anymore. It’s possible that Rebellion needs to give the series a break and work on something else. It’s a fact that the game doesn’t have nearly the same wow effect as the first one in its time, but at the same time, I personally am still interested in trying out the new part. Let’s see how it will be after its completion.
I remember reading somewhere on Kotaku about the developers, it seems, The Last of Us, who tried to make a very smart AI, but the testers thought it was cheating and uninteresting to play with. I think average users overestimate themselves – a truly cunning bot would not give them a chance. I think that’s what we’re talking about here.
it happens)) I thought that either it was too early, or the editor-in-chief didn’t like something))
Well, we can argue endlessly here. Go check now, was the AI smart there, or really cheating))
I think average users overestimate themselves – a truly cunning bot would not give them a chance. I think that’s what we’re talking about here.
The version has the right to life)) Yes, I understand that the author of the article most likely meant exactly this. That’s just..
1. The feature “one fail, play first” when the character is not reborn has taken root. That is, replaying the same thing over and over again, spending an extra month of real time trying to beat the game without a single failure is interesting to them. But having saves, but meeting a strong opponent – no.
2. As I said, you can solder several complexities. Easy/medium – bots are stupid. At maximum bots are smart. No one is forcing me to play at maximum if I can’t handle it 🙂 But from the developers’ side, yes, it’s cheaper to just cut something out as an uber-difficulty, rather than spending money and effort on developing the AI)))
I wanted to write the same thing, to refresh the series, you can use different characters for different parts, representatives of different warring countries, with their own flavor and characteristics. You can even talk about a German, Italian or Japanese sniper, why not, in general the gaming industry, in my opinion, is seriously lacking in games about certain negative characters.
And of course, all sorts of games like GTA don’t count, I mean that we play as an obvious plot-negative hero who fights for the “bad” people or leads them and shares their beliefs. The main thing without stupid turns is that at a certain moment he realized everything and went over to the side of the “good” ones, as it happened (and was very annoying), for example, in Star Wars Force Unleashed.
The first was cool, a kind of discovery, the second was also okay – a quite suitable continuation. The third one got boring after the second mission. I doubt that the developers will be able to make the fourth part
Ideally, about German and Soviet snipers, but in principle, for a start, even about Japanese and American ones, for example. But they most likely won’t like such ideas, it’s better to do the same thing as before, only with more special effects, turn the tide of the war again and personally shoot Hitler)))
Somehow it only stuck in the third. In fact, a good timekiller for a couple of evenings. I’ll play this one too, I love arcade stealth, lel.
A truly cunning bot, as a rule, knows something that the user does not know, but the computer considers it a bot. Just remember ReaperBot from Unreal or the same bots from Contra at maximum difficulty, who simply always know where you are and where you are looking.
The topic is very interesting, I agree completely. I keep an eye on every new part of the game. I would like to play a good game about a sniper during the Second World War. Snipers were “angels of death” and “made noise” in war-torn cities. There are many tricks and tricks in sniper tactics. With this you can “cook up” a wonderful unique gameplay. And at the same time, there’s no need to make a second “Hitman” or “Metal Gear Solid V”.
There is a huge amount of literature (both documentary and fiction) about the everyday life of snipers. If you read and apply this in the game, then the hero can be made more alive and humane, evoking feelings in the gamer.
There are countless stories about snipers in books and films. If you take them into account (not “rip them off”, but take them into account), then the plot can be made interesting, and at the same time also fascinating, driving, and at the same time close to reality.
There was a lot of drama during the war, and, again, if you read it, you can make the game not only interesting, but also touching.
At the same time, our hero may well be an ordinary ordinary sniper, and not a war superhero, without whom World War II would be lost, so he will “kill Hitler and everyone will like the game”.
Many game makers, when creating historical projects, make the same mistake: they “introduce” into the plot actually carried out “special operations”, about which they actually don’t know a damn thing and don’t want to know, or introduce real characters, who are also depicted without historical accuracy.
Although “historicism” can be achieved without this. But if you really want to introduce something like this, then you either need to involve good official consultants, or take some well-known fact from history, for example, Hitler’s speech on Berlin Square on such and such a day in such and such a year, and without changing historical accuracy, simply introduce it into the plot. For example, the main character during this speech of Hitler in Berlin was carrying out a “quiet” task. Just everyone is guarding the German Fuhrer, and at this time he must eliminate or steal a more modest figure.
In short, the theme is “fantasize, I don’t want to”. If only there was a desire.
Yes, show a couple of heroes who are fighting on opposite sides. Everyone has their own beliefs, their own story. War is a terrible thing, they have to do terrible things, although there are bright moments in their lives. And the war goes on as usual. Families are waiting at home. Friends die in war. And at the end of the game the main characters go against each other. They don’t even know each other, but we’ve already played for both of them. We will worry about who will remain. And no, absolutely rightly said, stupid turns. It’s just that one of them will be luckier and kill the other one. And the war will continue.
Maybe write us a resume at Rebellion?? 🙂
Yes, I’ve been thinking for a long time that it’s strange that good serious and realistic projects (in terms of plot, in this case I mean) do great, even though these are indie projects and become hits, but most large companies still continue to push us in AAA projects with banalities like “a cool hero saves the whole world alone/with the help of a small team, he alone defeats everyone, sometimes it may seem that everything will end badly, but we don’t even worry about our hero, because we know that he will win everyone anyway and we will get a sweet happy ending.”. But in fact, sad endings stick into the soul and memory much more. Yes, in the end, the point is not even that everything was bad and sad, but at least realistic and logical, without salvation in the last seconds and other stupid cliches that came from stupid action films.
Sniper Elite4, netsgen and all the others, buns and candies.SE3 is the most interesting in the trilogy so far, as it seemed to me. full of African colors and golden sand.Based on the trailer and this article, SE4 seems to me gloomy and too dramatic, isn’t SE3 with its golden sand.(I repeat, I know) I hope it won’t be like that and it will be interesting for its visual component. What can I say about the article, it’s interesting, it complements the information about the game.
To my taste, this game needs company because. For example, I spend more than one evening in the third part online, I’ve already logged 600+ hours and people are playing)
P.S.: And, by the way, the brave American snipers are, of course, great. But it would be nice to play for fighters from other countries too.
On their part, such an attitude towards their project is a stupid waste of their existing capabilities and resources.
Rebellion has a good sniper game engine and the means to pull off an expensive project.
Now on my mobile I’m running the game “This war of mine” by 11 bit studios.
Visually, this is a simple side-scroller. But the game was published and sold well on all modern platforms.
Why? Yes, because she is worthwhile, vital, touching, tough, even cruel. In short, she really “sticks”.
If you gave the same “11 bit studios” the resources of “Rebellion”, then I think the first ones would not miss this opportunity. But who will give it??